On this day, Feb. 25, in 1957, a college student in Philadelphia stumbled across the body of a young child, a discovery that attracted national attention and became known as the “Boy in the Box” mystery.

The “Boy in Box” mystery has stumped investigators for decades.

The child, estimated to be 4 to 6 years old, was found naked and battered in a cardboard J.C. Penney box in an empty lot by a young man checking his muskrat traps. A few days later, a college student found the body and reported it to police the next day.

The case grabbed national media attention. Investigators placed pictures of the boy in every utility bill in Philadelphia.

Despite the publicity and the efforts of homicide detectives, the FBI and the Vidocq Society, a group of retired policemen and profilers, the identity remains unknown.

In 1998, the boy’s remains were exhumed to extract DNA samples, and the boy was reburied as “America’s Unknown Child.”